The Magic Misfits 2. Neil Patrick Harris

Dad?” asked Leila.

      Mr Vernon removed the notebook from his pocket. It appeared to be one of the business ledgers from the magic shop downstairs – its cardboard cover had a marbled pattern. Leila knew her dad kept dozens of them behind the shop’s counter.

      Vernon flipped the notebook open. Page after page, names and prices of items were listed in simple columns. “Now that, dear daughter, is a mystery. If I could get inside the heads of animals and decipher their thoughts, I’d be one of the most powerful practitioners of magic in this country.”

      “Maybe he wasn’t trying to steal the notebook,” said Carter. “If he got left behind by the circus and hasn’t eaten in a few days, the monkey probably got lost looking for food. Poor thing is alone and confused and just needs a home.”

      Mr Vernon smiled. “Anything is possible if you believe it so. In the meantime, we’ll need to sleep with the windows closed.”

      “But won’t it get stuffy in here?” asked Leila.

      Mr Vernon shrugged playfully. “We’ve all dealt with worse, no?”

      The Other Mr Vernon came through the doorway holding a tray of treats: steaming mugs and a plate of chocolate chip cookies. “Milk and honey for my honeys! Drink up and then everyone back to bed.”

      As Mr Vernon slid the parlor window shut, Leila thought she heard a cry in the night. Could it have been the mysterious monkey, angry at them for chasing him? Or had it merely been the old window, squeaking in its frame? At that moment, Leila wasn’t sure which she’d rather believe.

      Instead, she sipped the creamy and sweet froth from the mug her poppa had handed to her, allowing it to calm the fluttering in her belly.

      “Pick a card, any card!” Carter said, fanning out a deck.

      Ridley Larsen raised an eyebrow and tilted her head with a withering stare. “Before we start sharing tricks, we should officially call Magic Misfits meeting number eleven to order.”

      “If you say so, boss,” Carter said with a grin. He split the deck into five small packs, then spiralled them around one another in a single grand gesture before flipping his palms over and revealing empty hands. Sometimes, it seemed to Leila, Carter could have made even the gazebo in the town green vanish with little more than a flick of his wrist.

      “Boss?” asked Izzy Golden. “I think of Ridley more as our queen.”

      “Queen is too generic,” said Olly Golden. “Empress has a nice ring to it.”

      “Your ears’ll ring when I give you a sock to ’em,” Izzy said, waving her fist in the air playfully at her twin.

      “Rings and socks ? But I’m already fully dressed!” Olly noted.

      Summer holidays had started, and Main Street was flooded with shoppers who were down from the resort and kids tasting the freedom of a school-free sunny afternoon. At almost every corner food vendors handed out samples of their wares: ice cream, chocolates, caramel corn, fruit-flavoured ice-slushes.

      But the Magic Misfits had no sense of what was happening outdoors. With all six of them crowded into the secret room behind the rear bookcase in Vernon’s Magic Shop, they were practically bumping elbows in the dim light. None minded, though; they were practising what they loved most: magic.

      Ridley reached inside Carter’s sleeve and removed the deck of cards he’d hidden there. “Hey! Not fair!” Carter cried out. “Stealing is not cool, Ridley.”

      “Stealing?” Stone-faced, Ridley flipped through the cards and held them out to the group. The playing cards had somehow transformed into a handful of purple note cards – each marked with dots and dashes in black ink. “I brought these Morse code study cards from home. Your playing cards are right where you left them, Carter.”

      Crinkling his brow, Carter raised his sleeve to find his deck of playing cards right where she’d said they’d be. Not only was Ridley an expert with transformations, she was also skilled at transforming the colour of people’s cheeks. In fact, Carter’s pale skin had instantly become a fierce pink.

      “Nicely done!” said Theo Stein-Meyer.

      “Thank you,” Ridley said. “Would you mind passing these out?”

      Theo guided his bow over the study cards and, one by one, they floated to the members of the Misfits. Theo’s levitation ability was one of his most closely guarded secrets. When he finished, he slipped his magic bow back inside the leg of his tuxedo pants.

      “I hope everyone has been studying this week,” Ridley went on. “The sooner we learn this Morse code stuff, the better we’ll be prepared to communicate secretly.”

      “Oh, Ridley,” said Leila, “I don’t think we need to worry about another situation like the one with Bosso.”

      “And yet only a few nights ago, his pet monkey tried to break into Mr Vernon’s office to steal one of his ledgers.” Ridley squinted at them. “Are you sure you’re not just inventing excuses to get out of doing your club homework?”

      “I thought summer was supposed to be homework-free,” said Izzy.

      “No, no, Izzy,” said Olly. “You’re thinking of sugar-free!”

      “But we love sugar!” said Izzy. “Mum and Dad hate it, though. Strange, because I always feel funnier after I eat sweets.”

      Leila smiled from the back corner of the far wall. She used to hate small spaces, but now she didn’t mind them so much. Blocked by Ridley’s wheelchair, she mentally worked out a path through her friends that would allow her to escape the crowded room in less than five seconds. She was always solving puzzles in her head, as if she might one day use them on a stage.

      “Leila, would you like to go first?” Ridley asked.

      Leila glanced at her note card. The code read:

      Leila figured out the translation in her head. “If you work together… ”

      Carter read his secret message. “And stay true to one another… ”

      Theo went next. “Nothing will bar you. ”

      Then Ridley: “Alone you are weak. ”

      Followed by Olly and then Izzy: “Together… you are… ” They struggled over the final word until Izzy finished, “Together you are… strange ?”

      “Almost,” said Ridley, raising an eyebrow. “Together you are strong.”

      “Nice,” Carter said to Ridley. “It’s the message from the psychic at the carnival. I’m happy you remembered it!”

      Just outside their secret headquarters, Mr Vernon finished dealing with his customers. After they left, Mr Vernon knocked on the wall and called out, “You do realize it’s a beautifully perfect day outside. Some people believe it’s a crime to be indoors on a day like this!”

      Leila perked up. The escape route she’d been scheming suddenly came into sharp focus. She ducked down, shimmied beneath the chair Theo was perched upon, then popped up, leaping over Ridley’s wheelchair and rebounding off the wall behind Carter before turning sideways, taking a deep breath, and squeezing between Olly and Izzy. She slid open the secret door and caught Vernon’s eye. “And would you consider yourself to be one of those people, Dad?”